Victor Argo gave supporting toughs the conviction of men who had been doing the job for years. We value his deep-voiced authority, though brief appearances and familiar casting often leave us wishing he had been given more to do.
Fi1m perspective
The deep voice and jowly, lived-in face make Victor Argo convincing before a script has found much for him to do. He is often a tough, a gangster or a policeman, and we believe that he knows the work. We rate that practical authority, while recognising how readily it can become an excuse to keep giving an actor the same part. Mario in Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973) helped establish the familiar casting; Argo would become a regular in the director's films.
In Taxi Driver (1976), he plays Melio, a deli owner, in a film whose attention is fixed on Travis. We were frightened by Robert De Niro's restraint: the loneliness becomes alarming without the performance having to advertise it. Argo has a brief part here, and our reservation about Scorsese's film is that its close attention to Travis leaves the others short of room. Melio is one reason to look beyond the leading performance, though this is hardly the place to discover how much else Argo could do.
Scorsese did vary the casting, giving him the Apostle Peter in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), a useful departure from the familiar heavies. Elsewhere the pattern held: Roy Bishop in King of New York (1990) was a detective, and Bad Lieutenant (1992) gave him the role credited as Bet Cop. Abel Ferrara was another recurring director, alongside Woody Allen. The reservation is about how narrow the opportunities often were, rather than any lack of conviction in the work.
Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999) gives Argo a meatier gangster role as Vinny. Forest Whitaker's solemn presence and RZA's score are the film's principal pleasures for us, and its borrowing from other cultures deserves more thought than the script gives it. Yet its mixture of humour and unexpected tenderness is a welcome setting for an actor so often hired to look intimidating. Argo belongs comfortably in that company, without needing to be the main attraction. Start here for more of him; Taxi Driver has other priorities.
Biography
Victor Argo (born Victor Jiménez) was an American actor and musician. He appeared in nearly 70 theatrical films and numerous television productions, often in supporting roles as tough or intimidating characters.
Argo made his film debut in the early 1970s and became a frequent collaborator with directors Martin Scorsese and Abel Ferrara. His credits include Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976) as Melio, The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Bad Lieutenant (1992), True Romance (1993) and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (1999). He also worked in stage productions and made his Broadway debut in the final months of his life in Anna in the Tropics.
Argo died in New York City on 7 April 2004, aged 69.
